I Went Vegan for a Month. Here’s What Happened.

(dramatic drumroll) I feel like garbage. (music) (upbeat music, with vocalizing) Veganism, the practice of abstaining from the use of animal products, particularly in diet, and an associated philosophy that rejects the commodity status of animals. Simple, vegans don’t eat meat, dairy, eggs, or any stuff derived from animals. BOOOM! Explanation complete-ly not done yet. That’s the dietary vegan. There’s also ethical vegans who oppose the use of animals for any purpose. Whether in your shoes, pearl necklaces, horse racing, cat juggling, horse necklaces. And then there’s environmental vegans who want to end industrial farming of animals so we can help the environment. And, probably more likely, a combination of the three: the etha-dia-tay… gen-tent-tal vegan, or maybe just vegan. What I’m trying to do here with this video is figure out what it’s like when someone tries to eat like a vegan. What some have told me is that what I’m doing is not trying to be vegan but just going on a plant-based diet. Okay, fine, whatever but during this time I did not do any cat juggling or wear any horse necklaces. So you do the math. Anyway, I hope you understand this better than my dad did when I tried to explain it to him. Luckily, my mom was there to help. Wait, wait, wait, wait. Is tuna vegan? *** no. What about jalapeno poppers? *** no. Carrots? *** yeah. Cereal? **** It depends. You know, I couldn’t be a vegan guy. No ****. Exactly. What? There wouldn’t be any because I wouldn’t be eat anything. You got that right Bub. Hey-ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh So the big question, other than my dad’s very pertinent questions: why? Why am I doing this? Well. One, I like to get out of my comfort zone. Every time I go out of my comfort zone I improve myself in some way. Or maybe not, eating Tide Pods was regretful. I developed an addiction, but I’m getting better now. I’m only eating them on Tide Tuesdays. But because I quit added sugar for a month and the internet for a month. I do have better habits. Two, I want to learn. I’ve always been pretty dumb when it comes to nutrition and cooking and putting those solid things in your tummy hole I believe it’s called food and I believe it’s called mouth. So maybe this will help me move from a level zero food mancer to at least a level two veggie Druid with +4 charisma. Three, I think it’s a good cause, helping the environment and animals. I think it’s a worthy goal and I want to at least try. Four, story time. I was in a cab once and a cab driver told me: So I have this friend, who went vegan and he told me to go vegan, and he said I would feel a-ma-zing. Why are you pretending to drive? I didn’t believe him so I made a bet and then I went vegan and then I felt a-ma-zing. He was right. I’m not paying for this time, am I? You should totally go vegan. You will feel a-ma-zing. Ok. I’m always looking for more ways to have energy, ever since I was diagnosed with a real bad case of the late 30’s and now, the best source, a random cab driver, is telling me that going vegan will solve all my problems. And I did an interview with the host of Healthcare Triage, Dr. Aaron Carroll. Hi, I’m Dr. Aaron Carroll and this is Healthcare Triage. And he totally supported the cab driver’s claim. I’ve been going vegan this month. Why? Um.. Reason I ask, is because, you know, people are doing for ethical reasons, totally on board. If they’re doing it for environmental reasons, I think that there’s a good argument there. But when people tell me they’re doing it for health reasons and they start talking about things like, well, they’re gonna feel great That’s where I’m sort of like, hmmmmmmm? Are you sure? If you are feeling great on any diet you’re eating, I’m thrilled. Like, I’m not trying to talk anyone out of it. When people start proselytizing to others about how it will do those things, that’s where I’m, I’m a little more on edge. A little skeptical? Oh, right, right, right. He totally wasn’t done. Bored. But I was already halfway through by the time I talked to him. Always going to health experiments completely blind. Anyway, I didn’t go in completely blind I did read some blogs, and watch some YouTube videos, and shout at random people in the street. Hey, how do you vegan?! To learn all the things I needed to so as not to die, and eventually I was prepared. At least I felt prepared. So let’s begin. I had vegan cereal with soy milk, banana, and apple and peanut butter. Big old salad. And now I have to figure out what to have for dinner. You’re not joining me this month. Nope. Chyna, why didn’t you join me? Because our baby eats what we eat and while veganism may be perfectly safe for the whole family, you’re just an average schlub and I don’t want you to damage our baby. Good call. After all, we do need her video making skills. And now Ada’s got the tripod. She’s gonna direct this picture. Oh no. Ada. (baby cry) First vegan dinner, whole wheat spaghetti and a ton of vegetables. So I don’t have to make food every night made a giant pot of it. You know what I’ve just been reminded of? I like eggplant. I don’t eat enough eggplant. Wait, is that a zucchini? It’s true though. I was pretty excited about how much I liked eggplant. I texted a picture of an eggplant to all of my friends and family. Not eating animal products is kind of awesome because you get to eat a lot of food without going over your calorie requirements. On the other hand It’s kind of not awesome because you’re not eating animal food. Okay, honestly after eating for a little bit, it does feel lighter. I can tell why it’s less calories. I do feel like it’s missing cheese or meatballs. It does feel like something’s missing a little bit. Alright, so day two, here are my thoughts, really want a dessert. Like I want a Chocolate cookie. I’m craving sugar more now than when we quit sugar. What else? I guess that’s it, really. I never found out why I was craving sugar so much. I think the reason is because I didn’t try to find out. Day three of being vegan, Or plant-based diet or whatever. It is not very hard. I don’t really notice feeling any better or worse. At first it was a bit of a challenge to make sure I was eating enough calories I could see how someone could easily just not eat enough. If you’re not paying attention. Downsides like sugar: inconvenience. The inconvenience issue was pretty much the same as when we quit sugar in fact I could probably just overdub some audio on the same footage and I wanted to just think through a drive-thru and grab something to eat Most fast food. It’s just gonna be all animal products. I think you could probably have french fries I bet there’s animal in fast-food fries. Really? It’s just potatoes. Okay, Google is there animal products in McDonald’s fries? Beep, boop, boop, American McDonald’s fries are fried in beef fat beep, boop, boop Holy- I’m glad I know that they put animal in everything. Why? Even stuff that doesn’t need animal product. But since Chyna and Ada weren’t going vegan There was another level of inconvenience: And I don’t get to enjoy the same meal as my family This was kind of a problem because we only had one kitchen or if we were going out to eat We had to make sure there was an option for me and if I don’t get food when I’m hungry I’m gonna throw a temper tantrum. Am I right fellas? (yelling) But speaking of the kitchen I was getting better at cooking on day five I cooked this cauliflower rice dish it was so good. And I definitely cooked it. Totally cooked it. I don’t miss meat. I don’t miss eggs. I don’t miss milk. Is there anything you do miss? Dessert? I don’t even really miss that now. Turns out the solution to the dessert problem was to eat dessert. There’s lots of vegan desserts I don’t know what I was complaining about I’m kind of a dumb. A really good one was a smoothie from today’s sponsor Daily Harvest who I would like to thank for sponsoring this video They sent me 24 Pre-portioned cups of smoothies harvest bowls and lattes right to my doorstep all organic and plant-based and not just for vegans But anyone who wants to include more fruits or veggies or superfoods in their life. They made it really easy for me to get a vegan snack whenever I wanted one really quickly you know when I get hungry I throw a temper tantrum like *yelling* This try coconut smoothie that has all the ingredients Right there on the cup and the instructions on how to make it or in your liquid I chose oat milk and then I blended it all up. I used an immersion blender. Ooh how immersive. And then I poured it back into the cup. This is seriously really really good I also made this butternut squash chimichurri Cup. Look at all that goodness listed right there on the cup just peel off the top get a compelling close-up drop it in a pan for like five minutes and do the old plate plop and they’re customizable. I’m adding avocado because it’s the 20 teams and everything is avocado and it’s super delicious. That’s better than mom’s home-cooking Even babies like it. More? More? Okay, follow the link below and use the code wheezywaiter for three free cups on your first order Anywho back to how I felt on day six, I feel full more often. I feel less hungry, which makes a lot of sense if you’re eating vegetables and you’re making sure you’re getting enough calories You’re gonna have a lot of stuff in your belly Example: Basically the amount of calories in this hamburger is equal to this much broccoli that might be an exaggeration hard to say I didn’t actually count to anything the point is I was not hungry because well just doing it an awesome way and it’s not that hard Whee Wow. All right. I’m amazing. Yeah Yes, I feel like garbage Oh Oh-oh Totally. Diarrhea, gas, feel very tired and my eye is twitching, nauseous. Could just be getting sick But hey, we got to be honest here. I do not feel good. Luckily. I had a plan for recovery Just like way today. I felt better today. Noice! all good. I’m perpetually really full though Damn it and trying to make sure I get enough calories but there’s so low calorie dense food that I’m getting really full. But then I pretty much felt better and by day 12 I developed a theory. I think it was just my body being like whoa way too much fiber, dude Yeah, I had vegan cereal with soy milk, banana, apple and peanut butter Big ol’ salad, wheat spaghetti, ton of vegetables, giant pot of it, and I’m not ready for that. Yeah. Yeah I’m scaling that back a little bit and I’m feeling better I think a lot of fiber is good for you, but your system has to be ready for it. Yep I had it all figured out I felt terrible again Dammit. Still not so great in the stomach. Also I’ve decided I’m going to talk to some people who actually Might know what they’re talking about. Yes I was totally planning on making this the Craig show only, but I figured it was time to seek help It’ll be okay, it will I’m Adrien Paczosa and I’m a registered dietitian and certified eating disorder dietitian. I probably should’ve talked to you before That would be- Yeah that would’ve been great! What would you recommend for someone that wants to go straight veganism? Yeah, I would say Hey, let’s try vegetarian first like let’s baby step into it and do that. Yeah. Yeah, that’s where I would have started I also talked to this guy. Are you looking to live a healthier more active life and eat some delicious food? I’m Vince Lia and welcome to my youtube channel, and I don’t necessarily push people with showing them how to go vegan I just show them how to incorporate more plant-based option into their meals and start eating healthier like more of a slow approach Unlike what I did Yeah, I definitely recommend a gradual steps I think whenever we make a drastic change, the body feels doesn’t know to interpret it, doesn’t know what’s going on It’s sending out signals that you know is something wrong your GI system a gastrointestinal system has all these cool gut microbiomes in it Whenever we change food that changes it and so that could have also added to the GI Complications you had it I once tried low Carbohydrate diet and I had the same exact experience maybe like five or six days in I felt like crap they call low carb flu Whatever for a couple days and then I got over it Yeah it could totally be your body just adjusting to changes but there’s something else I kept hearing people keep saying I find these blogs and People talking about detox your body is like flushing out the toxins or whatever, but there’s no real- you’re shaking your head a lot. The idea of detox, so This is where it’s terrible. Cause the cameras caught me like making rolls, I can’t stop rolling my eyes, it’s not possible! If you have a liver and kidneys and they function well Yeah, then you’re good. The entire purpose of liver is basically to detox you Yeah, the kidneys pick up whatever slack is really left If you go into the body if you’re having surgery, even when they do colonoscopies It’s clan as a whistle, nothing sticks. We have been consuming dirt and harmful things forever. Yeah, college. Our food and water supplies are the cleanest they’ve ever been It just doesn’t make intuitive sense or historical sense and there’s certainly no good evidence for it. Okay, so a sudden change of diet could have been the problem detox Definitely not but what about my other theory? My theory is that I was eating way too much fiber 70 grams It’s all a few days, you know told that’s yeah I was on average going from 30-some grams of fiber a day to like 70. Holy help! I think that first week may have been averaging like 70 grams a day of fiber how much like 70 I hope your water was like up as well. I don’t think it went up. Oh, oh, yeah. Yeah, that would have been awful Oh my god! That’s- Someone else I talked to had the same reaction, is that a lot? Yeah Give you a little panic attack Well, I think they recommend you get about 30 grams of fiber Were you moving anymore when you have? It actually probably decreased because of the winter and winter you’re super dehydrated Because especially with all that cold and you’re breathing a little bit different. Oh my god, that sounds miserable I’m glad you’re with us, you know in general. It’s like there’s nothing unhealthy about a vegan diet That should make people not feel well unless they’re doing what you’re describing Okay, so my theory seems pretty sound but who knows maybe I was screwing up some other things was they getting enough protein? We don’t need that much protein neat about the palm of your hand as far as serving sizes your hand for your body You can’t actually get a good amount of protein from fruits and vegetables and plant sources It’s more of the little players the micronutrients omega-3s We get a lot from fish oils, but we can also get them from plants, but it’s a little bit harder in the conversion I think they’re pretty magical. It really helps with a brain health cognition. It helps with mood stability Heart health like they are the little magical unicorns of vitamins the minerals in my opinion. I used chia seeds Okay, good. See I’m good at stuff. Chia seeds have a lot of omega threes. I Also have a lot of fiber calcium is a little bit harder we can get from plants That’s just more it to be more mindful and then B12 B12 comes from animal products and you can get it kind of from a plant sources. What does that mean? Alright, let’s try to explain B12 as far as I understand it it comes from microorganisms Lots of animals absorb it from bacteria in their bellies but it’s also found in soil and on plants, but Even VeganSociety.com says that soil and plants are not a good source of B12 if you’re vegan You should be getting B12 from supplements or from fortified foods I was getting it from soy milk but I didn’t realize you gotta shake the crap out of it to really Get it in enough of each serving because a lot of those molecules are really heavy So they get to the bottom of the soy milk wait So what are you doing gonna turn it upside down and shake the crap out of it Okay, thank you. But none of those micronutrients would really be a problem in a month Some of that stuff has to be supplemented, but you wouldn’t be seeing Facts like in the short term. Would your advice just be to wait, like? Yeah I mean nothing you’re describing is life threatening in any way that I’d be like you’ve gotta act on this. It could- it totally could be you just got a virus While you were doing this, yeah lord knows there’s enough out there right now sure. It could have been a virus Not the fibre at all Anyway for the rest of the month. I made sure to limit my fiber intakes. Okay on day 19 I checked in with my friend Jake. Yeah, can my subtitle be a Jake Jeremy not a vegan So what can you eat at McDonald’s? I don’t know. I haven’t gone to McDonald’s. Well, then what can you eat at Arby’s? I don’t know I haven’t gotten Arby’s I can eat at Chipotle Okay, yeah I’m definitely over the hump and I’m feeling good And I actually really don’t miss meat and dairy the thing about you Craig though Is that once you commit to like any goal? I’m just gonna make the best of it Yeah, this I could do this forever if I wanted to yeah, probably well Yeah, that’s kind of me. I have this vegan cheese. Hang on it. We’re gonna you’re gonna try this cheese I am a cheese lover. Keep talking! Craig made me this drink. I forget the name of it. It’s like a Dunkel Howser. Add uncle Vikon Vikon Dunkel. It’s delicious it’s a rye whiskey based favorite experience with cheese the government cheese I got Delivered to our small town from ages like two to five and a half Basically Velveeta is what it was and it was like like Mother’s Milk to me Government cheese Havarti Havarti jalapeno. Jalapeno Havarti. Yeah. Now you’re speaking my language, you know good knows. Mm-hmm Mmm Okay, so nothing like cheese Nothing like cheese, it’s good. Yeah, but I think it pulls me towards cheese and then my taste buds are like But it’s not if you go to a vegetarian restaurant and order something that you have with meat Usually you’re gonna be disappointed because you’re comparing it to something that you already love If you just don’t call this cheese call this like jalapeno snack a lot of people say when you go vegan You should just eat like replacement food. Yeah, I think that’s a big mistake. Yes general for the most part. I’m not eating just replacement food Yeah Would you ever go vegan if it was like one of those Homer Simpson take one more cannonball in the stomach and you’re gonna die Like then I’d go vegan. I think we’re good. What else you want to talk about? So what can you eat at Sonic? I have never been. Okay. So what can you eat at Wendy’s? Don’t know okay, so it was definitely over the hump things were going good until Day 24 things are going pretty good. Just kidding. Everything was fine. I feeling like I’m getting the hang of this tonight I made rice and black beans and sweet potato and avocado and it was good I’m still feeling full all the time, and I’m not feeling terrible. Chyna had pizza. She went and got a pizza She ate that in front of me while I was eating my rice and beans and it was fine I just don’t really miss it Day 31 I don’t think I’m gonna stay strict vegan We’re on our way to Austin, by the way, we’re gonna be surrounded by tacos and barbeque. I’ll tread lightly Oh, I’ll stab a little bit. I feel fine No, no, I know. Yeah, that’s day 31. I’ll check in again after I’m back on the sauce The barbecue sauce Ayyyyyyy So here we are a few weeks later and no I’m not still on the plant-based diet I don’t know why I’ve been thinking about it and I think it comes down to this one convenience aka laziness. I really just think it’s easier I don’t have to plan ahead and figure out what’s in all the food that I’m eating can share the same meal with whoever I’m Eating with at all times nothing history not because I’m allergic to tree nuts – I like eating animal products I just like them. I like the taste I’ve proven that when they’re gone. I don’t really miss them But if they’re an option, I might choose them because I like them I will say though that in the past few weeks. I have chosen the vegan option Sometimes if it was an option, I probably wouldn’t have done that before and I enjoyed them and it was a perfectly full meal I didn’t have that feeling early on I do feel like it’s missing Cheese or meatballs to feel like something’s missing a little bit. And who knows maybe I will go fully vegan at some point But if I want it to last maybe I should take it slow I like Vince’s approach and I don’t necessarily push people with soe to go vegan I just show them how to incorporate more plant-based option into their meals and start eating healthier and Focus on adding foods into their diet rather than taking foods away food like daily harvest for instance I haven’t really talked about the environmental impact that much so far. Let’s do that. Let’s talk to my friend Joe Hanson He’s a PhD biologist. I also host it’s okay to be smart. The human brain is good It’s so much yet. So so bad at big numbers Let’s see if we can fix that in a climate show called hot mess we’ve gotten ourselves into a bit of a hot mess Let’s talk about it on the youtubes. It’s just singular. Actually. There’s just one YouTube. I should have known that by now Yeah, it says it right there. This is odd Yeah animal agriculture has an enormous impact somewhere in the ballpark of 75 to 80% of all farmland grows food to feed the animals So the humans keep those animals or the products that they make for us Cal’s release a ton of methane people like to say cows fart methane actually burp it me, too Anyway, it sounds like if the whole world went vegan All of our climate problems would be solved by a long shot. All of our client problems cannot be solved by a long shot. No We still gotta eat. So even if you’re taking a tall animal You’re gonna have to replace that for growing food that’s directly for humans You could cut our emissions from animal agriculture or the estimates are somewhere around in half. Anyway, you can find lots of numbers and healthy debate about this on the googles and the Internet’s. Just singular actually Sorry, Google and Internet But if you want to see a more thorough explanation of the shocking numbers about the inefficiency of animal agriculture as well as animal treatment There’s a video by kurzgesagt Currents, I don’t know how to pronounce it, but it’s a really good video. It’s linked up here somewhere Absolutely a valid thing to do to go vegan for the environment. You’re not in Congress You can’t change energy policy in the United States. You can choose your food. So are you vegan? I Am NOT vegan. I live in Texas So that’s what the dietitian I thought you said. Are you vegan or vegetarian? Nope! I am a Texan Wait Texans are from Texas. Does that mean vegans are just people from Vegas well too far right now to stop so I’m very glad I did this experiment I feel like I learned a lot about nutrition and a little bit about cooking see that chickpea sweet potato thing there I made that delicious see that lentil soup. Well Hmm. Well, okay. All right I didn’t make that and as for feeling like I have more energy and feel amazing like that cab driver said well No, once I got over that whole fibre Fiasco, I kind of just felt the same. Why is that? I don’t know Maybe it depends on the kind of diet a person has in the first place I don’t think my diet was too terrible before I started Hugh amazing. I’m amazing. Yeah Yes, who knows how well that cab driver was eating before he went plant-based. Maybe I should ask him. No. No, I’m just a reenactment But I feel amazing. Okay, you are not charging me for this part of the ride So it was only a month it probably requires more time for any real major changes also also not all vegan diets are equal you can Bad for you vegan diet. I think was in Trader Joe’s they had these pea pod crisps They’d takied pea pods and like deep fried them. They’re like vegan. It’s like but are we just gonna eat? Potato chips and Oreos Oreos are vegan and sour bacon so someday maybe I will go vegan But I’m gonna take it slowly. I do believe now even more so than I did before that it is a Perfectly viable diet because of doing this and because of the people I talk to if you are feeling great on any diet you’re eating I’m thrilled like I’m not trying to talk anyone out of there. You can do anything your body your choice We are capable of having so many diets that there cannot be just one though changing isn’t always easy It’s hugely complex to change something. That’s at the core of who we are Biologically and culturally eating being the oldest thing that humans have have done besides a couple of other things Like furthering of species weight furthering the species were you referring to? Playing sports. Yes. Okay. Exactly. Okay. We’re very athletic species Anyway going vegan for a month didn’t cure my horrible case of the late 30s But hopefully it sent me down the road towards something something conclusion Thanks to all the people that talked to me during this video I’m going to put links to all their things down below. Seriously, check out that kurzgesagt video about the meat industry and about the environment If you really want to get into the literally gory details about everything It’s animated though So you can still go on kind of denying reality consider that thumbs up button if you enjoyed watching the longest wheezywaiter video in history, and if you want to see more subscribe Here’s a playlist of the other month-long challenges. I’ve done such as no internet and no added sugar YouTube thinks you like this video I do a little update every Monday on my second channel WheezyNews, and a secret vlog every weekday for patrons if you want to support me on patreon I think the next month-long experiment is going to be CBD oil flea doesn’t work, too Well when I get to relax if so then I hope you enjoyed the last wheezywaiter video ever